Starting the Year with Norris

 Happy New Year, everyone, 

It's been almost three weeks since I've posted, and I suspect that there will be only two posts this month. I'm absolutely Captain ADHD, and thrive on keeping ridiculously busy - I'm pretty nuts when I don't have too much to do - but this last month has just swept my legs out from under me, with a couple of brief but intense illnesses, end of the year madness and work demands. I hope and intend to be back to at least three posts a month in February. 

Thanks to everyone who has commented recently. I've received multiple comments on older posts in the last month, from a few readers who seem to be getting caught up on the site. Welcome, and thanks again. 

During the last three weeks, I've had a couple of interesting conversations about the last post - the New Image 45. At the time, I had meant to point out that its label number - 1717 - was the highest I could remember seeing, and the highest by about 250 numbers recorded anywhere. I overlooked the records Sammy Reed has posted in thinking that there have been no such high numbers found until now, but still, it was clear that the label continued for far longer than I had expected, and a range of 250 releases, of which only one or two have been documented, is astounding. More astounding than that was the email I got from Sammy himself, in which he reported: 

Looking at Tin Pan/New Image records on Discogs, I found out that in 1984, they used the QCA pressing plant, so from that year on, you can tell what years they were made, from the first number of the QCA code on the label. This means that "Pride"/"A Girl and a Guy in Love" was pressed in 1984 and "Lady Wildcat"/"Fortune Teller" is from 1986. My record "Still the Same", which mentions Andy Warhol's death among many other things, is in fact from 1987. My latest one, 1711, is from 1992. And the one in your latest post is from 1993! 

So TPA was still in business until at least 1993. That's astonishing to me. They also seem to have stuck with the "New Image" band name for a decade, which is unusual for them too. Thanks for the research, Sammy. I am amazed. 

~~

As I frequently do when I feature a record that came from the mind of Norridge Mayhems, I have to offer the disclaimer that I include him in this site, and label his posts as being "Song Poems of the Week", even though his output, prior to the late 1950's, does not technically qualify as part of the larger world of the song-poem. "Vanity Release" is a more accurate term, and, it should be noted, he had an honest-to-goodness band on an honest-to-goodness record label very early in his career as a songwriter and musician. But he did, extensively, use the song-poem companies for the last 25 years of his life, often having them re-record songs he had released much earlier in his life. And his story, and his records, are fascinating to me, so I include them when I come across them. 

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that today's featured record is not a song-poem. It features Norridge compositions (typically, one side is credited to Mayhams under his real name, and the other is listed as being co-written by his altar-ego, Norris the Troubadour, and Mayhams' wife), and appeared on his own label, in fairly terrible quality - like all records he released on his Co-Ed label, this is definitely a vanity release. And the second of the two songs is one that he continued to promote, sing, pay others to sing, and release, in multiple versions, for much of the rest of his life. If you want to hear more, just click on "Norris the Troubadour" in the labels at the bottom of this post. I find him utterly and endlessly fascinating, and hope you will, too. 

Can I just say, I LOVE the Co-Ed record label. 

Both sides are credited to Jimmie Miller, although Mr. Miller leads two different bands on the two sides. Interestingly, the label numbers do not match, and this first song, " 'A Wedding In May' Or a Funeral in June" (to use his preferred punctuation) was released with at least three B-sides that I've been able to find reference to. This particular one is a documented "upcoming release" in Billboard Magazine in 1949, dating it quite nicely. The A-side features Jimmie Miller All Star Quintet, and features a fairly brief lyric/vocal performance framing lengthy solo sections

Download: Jimmie Miller All Star Quintet - "A Wedding In May" or a Funeral In June

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The flip side features Jimmie Miller and the Charlestonians, and as with the A-side, this record was released at least twice, with a different flip side each time. The song is "The Seaboard, The Southern and the A.C.L.", and as noted, he had this song re-recorded in other versions at least twice in later years. This very brief record is a slow, bluesy number, sung by a female vocalist, a rarity on Norris records. 

And, as you'll hear, someone wasn't paying attention at the start of the recording of the master. I've only ever heard one other 78 that starts like that, and I don't understand enough about the recording of 78s to know exactly what happened. 

Download: Jimmie Miller and the Charlestonians - The Seaboard, The Southern and the A.C.L.

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Another Piece of the Norris Puzzle

To start today's post, let me just reiterate that, any time I come to own a previously unknown / unshared record linked to the fabulous Norridge Mayhams (AKA Norris the Troubadour), it will get shared here, and very promptly. 

I will do this even though many of these records have a dubious - or even virtually no - connection to song-poems. The link remains that, at a certain point in the 1960's, Norris stopped performing his own songs (or, as in this case, hiring and no doubt paying existing outfits to record them), and started using the song-poem companies to record his songs. But even at that point, as he had always done, it seems likely that he wrote both the words and the music for his material, so even when he used the song-poem companies, his releases were a little different than the standard material found on those releases. 

However, I find his story - and his music - endless fascinating, and so will always share with you what I find. And here's something believed to be unique among the tens of thousands of people who utilized the song-poem companies at one point or another. Norridge Mayhams wrote an actual, honest-to-goodness popular hit record. The song was "We'll Build a Bungalow", and you can hear the hit version here. Note the absence of Mayhams' name on the label. He spent years trying to sue his way into both receiving writer's credit for and receiving the profits of his song. 

Anyway, Norris recorded (and paid for others to record) "Let's Build a Bungalow" on his own labels more than a half dozen times, from the 1940's through his final records in the 1980's. But I'm going to guess that my new acquisition, heard below, is the first recording of the song, and it appears on Norris' own Co-Ed label, on a 78, which I'm guessing is from the late 1940's (although the lousy sound quality suggests to me the recycled shellac which was used near the end of World War II). It's credited to Carl Bostic and His Orchestra, a conglomeration which appeared on other Co-Ed 78's, as well, including one that I've shared before on this site, in a most excellent performance of an excellent song. 

For all of the reasons that I described above, this is probably better described as a Vanity Record than a Song-Poem, but again, in the interest of bringing more Norris/Norridge Mayhams to the world, I'm sharing it here. I'd like to draw particular attention to the almost random nature of the piano solo, particularly from 1:45 to 2:10. Some measures feature only a single note, others have flurries of notes which seem played almost by accident. 

Download: Carl Bostic and His Orchestra - We'll Build a Bungalow (You Spell It For Two)

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On the flip side, Carl Bostic and His Orchestra return, with a song called - and I want to get this right, exactly as it appears on the label - "I WANT A Co-ED by my SIDE". In case you just thought "Co-Ed was a clever label name, with a clever and unique logo, well, no. Norris was obsessed with all things college, and wrote songs about various aspects of college for much of his life. For me, the highlight of this song is the rather unusual use of language in spots, which is a trademark of Norris' compositions, although the pianist, yet again, makes some unusual choices in both the solo and in his fills. 

 Download: Carl Bostic and His Orchestra - I WANT A Co-ED by my SIDE

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Norris Minus Norris

I am taking a bit of a road trip down what might be an off-ramp from the song-poem world today (or might not be). Because I can't confirm that today's offering is a song-poem. It probably isn't. But it's connected to that world. 

And what's more important to me, in this case, is to further the sharing of the wild, wonderful, odd world of Norridge Mayhams (aka "Norris the Troubadour). I assure you, every time I get a chance to share something previously unknown that Norridge touched, I'm going to share it. 

And the Co-Ed label of the 1940's was Norridge Mayhams' label. So, stepping away, possibly, from the song-poem realm into the vanity realm, here's today's offering, which I just took ownership of this week: 

"Light Up" is the feature here, and it's a jazzy, big band thing with a instrumental dance run-through leading to a vocal refrain, then back to another instrumental passage, just like a good percentage of the records from this era (ads for this song - albeit with a different flip side - appeared in multiple issues of Billboard in 1944). 

The vocal chorus is very likely the band members themselves, and they sing it in unison. It is, as you might imagine, a paean to the joys of smoking. The nature of the benefits of smoking listed here indicate to this listener that the songwriter did not have tobacco in mind. 

The performers are The Ministers of Melody, who appeared on at least a few other Co-Ed releases, including one I featured before. 

Download: The Ministers of Melody - Light Up

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In fact, that aforementioned previous Co-Ed release I just mentioned, the one which also carried the name of The Ministers of Melody, contained the exact same song and performance (same label number, too) and that which appears on the flip side of this 78. This also happened with "Light Up", which showed up on the flip side of something called "Induction Blues" in a different release, and on the flip side of a version of "From Hopewell Junction", which is the song I shared in that other long ago post I just referred to. 

Anyway, although I shared this once before, 14 years ago, here's "Married Man Blues". I think this record of it is actually in slightly better quality than the one I shared in 2009. 

Trying to figure out the where's, what's and why's of Norris the Troubadours career and making sense of his label releases is quite a challenge. So what's the Norris connection here? Damned if I know - could be that he just knew whoever was behind this band, and it could be that he knew the composer (Lowe) of both songs, making it, as I posited, a vanity record. Could be none of the above. Just one more piece of the puzzle, which I'm happy to provide today. 

Download: The Ministers of Melody - Married Man Blues

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Norridge Mayhams - The Story Continues!

I have just a couple of near-absolutes here, in putting this site together. But one of those few is that ANY new and previously unshared records connected to Norridge Mayhams (aka Norris the Troubadour) will be shared immediately upon my obtaining of them. 

In this case, that means that today's record is not exactly a song-poem, but it is connected to that world due to the fact that Mayhams used the song-poem companies so often. But not, it would appear, in this case. But still, I like to think of my site as, among many other things, a one-stop-shopping spot for anyone who falls under the sway of the great - if spectacularly weird - Norridge Mayhams. 

In this case, this record, released on his own mouthful of a label, Co-Ed Sorority Fraternity Record Co, and credited to the equally lengthy billing of "Newcomb-Rayner Cannonballers (Eddie-Bill-Mac)", features a song called "Jeanie". Mayhams very likely hoped that inserting the names of then-current country and western hitmakers (along with that of the multi-genre hit machine known as Elvis Presley) might garner some interest, so he loaded up his lyric with references to more than a half dozen of them.

My thought upon hearing this record was "that's got to be from 1956", given the artists mentioned. And whattaya know, Billboard actually reviewed this record, on June 2, 1956. You can see that review here, on page 42. 

Download: Newcomb-Rayner Cannonballers (Eddie-Bill-Mac) - Jeanie

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Interestingly, just about two years later, in June of 1958, Cash Box magazine reported that the song was "clicking on the collegiate group circu't (sic)", as seen below: 

Norris B. Mayhams, Prexy & Gen. Mgr. of Co-Ed 
Records infos that the Newcomb-Rayner Cannonball- 
ers, Buddy Rayner, Jerry Newcomb, Eddie Seabody 
and Charlie & Sonny, are currently clicking on the 
collegiate group circu’t with their latest waxing of 
“Run Away Heart” and “Jeannie”, and that they’re 
starting out on a series of engagements, this month, 
made possible thru the Intercollegiate Broadcasting 
System airing of their disks. 

And two years after that, a web search finds that Cash Box again reported on the group, in a May 21st issue. I've been unable to find the actual text in that issue, but maybe someone out there wants to spend more time on it than I did. The issue can be found here. The Google search provided this partial segment of the story: Newcomb-Rayner Cannonballers, Co-Ed recording group, have changed their name to the Collegiate Cannonballers. According to Co-Ed prexy N. B. May-

And that's it. 

For the flip side, we have "Run Away Heart". Billboard, in the review linked above, was even more dismissive of this performance than of its flip, but Mayhams believed in the song, or at the very least had a soft spot for it, as he released it at least seven times during his lifetime, although some of those - including the 1961 release on the Mayhams label - credited to Georgie's C & W Collegians, and also featuring a flip side of "Jeanie" - were probably duplicate versions. 

Perhaps just reading all of this insanity helps explain why I love the Norridge Mayhams story so much. 

Anyway, this may well be the first version of a song that clearly was close to Norris the Troubadour's heart. Here it is: 

Download: Newcomb-Rayner Cannonballers (Eddie-Bill-Mac) - Run Away Heart

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More cut-ups in the near future!

Sing It, Norris!

Today, a return visit to one of my favorite characters from the world of Song-Poems, Norridge Mayhams. I'd feature him more often, but my collection of his music (aside from a CD reissue of his 1976 compilation double album, which I believe has circulated widely) is far more limited than I'd like. Today, one of his self released singles on his own Co-Ed (Sorority Fraternity) Record Company, from circa 1956. Although the moniker "Norris the Troubadour" eventually came to be attached to whatever singer happened to be appearing on one of his songs, for this record, I do believe this is Mayhams himself singing - and having more than a bit of trouble with pitch control - on the appropriately memorable "Remember Me":

Download: Norris the Troubadour - Remember Me

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The flip side displays Mayhams idiosyncratic tendancies in the area of song titling, in this case, the song is called "Rock N' Rollin' Honey (You Left Me Baby Cause I Had No Money)". And again, I think Norridge himself is heard on the vocal: 

Download: Norris the Troubadour - Rock N' Rollin' Honey (You Left Me Baby Cause I Had No Money)

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One Year In!

Today, to celebrate the completion of one year of song-poem of the week posts (52 of 'em!), I'm going to do something a little different, and hope both that I will be forgiven a bit of self indulgence and also that readers of this blog will find today's extra tracks enjoyable. 

On several occasions, I've been part of performances of song-poems. Mostly, these have taken part at music-and-comedy parties that my friends and I have been holding for 25 years now, but I've also done recordings of a couple of song poems in my "home studio". Today, the original versions of four of my favorite song poems, each followed by a performance of the same song that I've taken part in. 

First up, the record that is quite possibly my very favorite from the extended song-poem world. I say "extended", because this is a Norridge Mayhams record in which he himself takes the lead. For that reason, this is probably more of a vanity record than a song-poem, although Mayhams was, of course, actively involved in the latter, as well. With my love of Calypso, Rhumba and other Latin rhythms from the middle of the 20th century, the lilt of this one was a natural for me to love. And Mayhams Vaudeville-type delivery gets to me, too. 

This song was part of the AS/PMA download page, so I'm sure it circulates among collectors, but may be unheard by some readers. The sound quality is horrendous (the 45 copy I own appears to be a copy mastered directly from a 78), but it's one of the strangest, most amazing records I've ever been lucky enough to hear, and it's called "Mary Ann McCarthy (She Went Out to Dig Some Clams) (Yes She Went to All the Parties)".

Download: Norris the Troubadour, Seaboard Coastliners - Mary Ann McCarthy (She Went Out to Dig Some Clams) (Yes She Went to All the Parties)

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Five years ago, at one our periodic parties, I recorded a backing track for a live performance of this song, played the lead part on the same keyboard, and two friends played guitar and uke in the live rendition that I sang. My flubbed lead keyboard playing, and the fact that we repeatedly played too loud to hear the backing track (getting woefully off beat with it at least three times), would both normally be considered significant flaws, but somehow, they seem just perfect for a performance of a song poem. I hope you find this as enjoyable as it was to take part in: 

Download: Bob, with Stu, James and the Ras Ensemble - Mary Ann McCarthy

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From the other side of the musical and song-poem world comes David Fox, and his arrangement and performance of the Caglar Juan Singletary's fascinating and indescribable "Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers". Here's the original, another of my all time favorites: 

Download: David Fox - Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers

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And here, from the same party as that performance of "Mary Ann McCarthy", comes a rendition of "Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers". A friend of mine and I worked out a backing track for the song, including a "cold" ending for the song (which faded on the original record). During the performance heard here, I played the lead keyboard parts over the backing track, and my friend - dressed as "Captain Bicycle" - sang the song with great verve and panache. Again, I hope this recording, with the audience comments and reactions, captures the energy of the moment: 

Download: Paul with Bob: Non-Violent Taekwondo Troopers

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If there is a competition for my favorite song-poem (with "Mary Ann McCarthy"), one of the few other records in the race is Norm Burns' exquisite early '60's-sounding gem "Darling, Don't Put Your Hands On Me". Everything about this record is perfect, from the overall sheen of the thing to Norm's expert reading of the lyrics to... well, I'll just say that on some days I think of this as being as good as any record ever made. This one also was on the AS/PMA website, so I'm certain it's well known in some circles, but perhaps others have not heard it. Here it is: 

Download: Norm Burns - Darling, Don't Put Your Hands On Me

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Now, from another one of our parties, here's my friend Stu and I, with Stu singing, on an almost impromptu version of the song. I say "almost", because we had discussed possibly performing the song, prior to the party, and I had worked out what keyboard settings to use in case we did it, but there was no rehearsal and no other preparation, which explains the many moments of poor keyboarding (a couple of flubbed moments have been edited out) and some of the alternate lyrics employed. The sparse applause indicates that this was at the tail end of the party, with most of the attendees and participants long gone.

Download: Stu with Bob - Darling, Don't Put Your Hands On Me

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Finally, the first Halmark record I ever heard, sent to me in trade from song-poem hero Phil Milstein way back in the late '90's, long before this song appeared on an online offering of one of the final "MSR Madness" compilations. I was immediately taken by this song, "My Hamburger Baby", and wrote, requesting an entire cassette of Halmark records, the next time we traded from our collections. It remains an all time favorite of mine, a completely ridiculous lyric married to an out of date backing track, sung with complete sincerity: 

Download: Halmark Productions - My Hamburger Baby

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A few years ago, I set out to make a note-for-note remake of this record (or as close as possible - there are no backing vocals, for one thing). Obviously, this has all of the authenticity of a McDonald's Hamburger, due to the midi instrumental track, but I still think it was worth the effort. This will part of my self-produced CD "A Few More Plans", whenever I finish the final tracks for this ten-years-in-the-making epic. 

Download: Bob Purse- My Hamburger Baby

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I hope you found these cover versions (and, of course) the originals, and would welcome any feedback or other comments regarding what you thought of them. And I'm always open to any requests for more of a particular style or label. I tend to feature tracks that appeal to me, of course, but am quite willing to expand that to include requests. A Happy New Year to all who have stopped by to read and enjoy! Much more to come! Bob

Norris Mayhams: The Early Years

Although I just featured a Norridge Mayhams single a few weeks ago, I'm returning to that well again today, because I've just obtained one of the earliest known Mayhams Co-Ed label singles. The AS/PMA site puts the date on this one at "1945?", and given the lyrics, it certainly seems to date from some time during WWII. 

It's also the second lowest number of the listed Co-Ed singles (most of which pre-date his Mayhams label records), meaning it is likely among his earliest self-released records. He made earlier records with the Blue Chips (and wondrous many of those are), but they were released on established labels. I find the Mayhams story (what little I know of it) and his records endlessly fascinating. 

Today's feature carries the amazing name "The Hopewell Junction (To Wartime Function)" Those of you who have heard Mayhams later 78 - one with an far more amazing name - "Yamtang Yamtang Rankytang (No Meat Sweet Potato Swing", might notice a subtle similarity between the melody to the chorus and bridge of that record with the same sections of this record. For those of you not lucky enough to have heard "Yamtang...", here's a hint - the tunes to those sections of both songs are virtually identical. 

Please excuse the surface noise as you enjoy Carl Bostic and his Orchestra: 

Download: Carl Bostic and his Orchestra - The Hopewell Junction (To Wartime Function) 

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On the flip side is a real rarity on Mayhams' records - a song not written by the maestro himself. This song, "Married Man Blues", performed by "The Ministers of Melody", carries a writers credit to someone named "Lowe":

Download: The Ministers of Melody - Married Man Blues

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He'd Call This World a Heaven

Today, let's delve just a bit into the fascinating, confusing world of Norridge Mayhams. I can't begin to do justice to his story without pretty much copying, word for word, what is written here, so I'll just encourage you to follow that link and read about his wonderful, obscure life. 

Suffice it to say that Mayhams' recorded work overlaps fairly consistently with the song-poem world. And despite the fact that much of that work came out under the name "Norris the Troubadour", as often as not (particularly later in his career), that moniker was just as likely to be attached to a Rodd Keith or Sammy Marshall vocal performance (among many others) as it was to be attached to a Mayhams' vocal. 

My favorite Mayhams' record - indeed, possibly my favorite record from the song-poem world - is "Mary Ann McCarthy" (the 1940's/50's version, not the rather lifeless 1970's remake), which I may share here at some point, despite it having been traded widely, and available on the AS/PMA site in years past. That one does appear to feature ol' Norris himself, if my ears can be trusted. 

Likewise, I believe that today's featured tracks may have lead vocals from the man himself. They are both from a 45 which I digitized some time ago.  As I suspect about that great version of "Mary Ann McCarthy", I would not be surprised to learn that this Co-Ed label single was mastered directly from a 78 acetate, so 78ish, and generally poor, is the sound quality in places. 

"I'd Call This World a Heaven (If I Could Call You Mine)" is featured first. This one has a wonderfully off kilter sound, particularly at the start, and there are several moments when it is not at all clear that the band members are all playing the same song. 

Download: Norris the Troubadour - I'd Call This World a Heaven (If I Could Call You Mine)

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The flip side "Run Away Heart", is several levels higher, in terms of sound quality and song quality (the latter no doubt in part because Norridge has manipulated the opening chords and melody of "When the Saints Go Marching In" for the opening of his song), while still remaining quite off kilter, what with the shared trumpet and whistling solo over the banjo-led band. The vocal hear is also quite nice, which is true of many Mayhams vocals.

Download: Norris the Troubadour - Run Away Heart

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